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[230]
SO Ptolemy retired to one of the fortresses that was above Jericho,
which was called Dagon. But Hyrcanus having taken the high priesthood that
had been his father's before, and in the first place propitiated God by
sacrifices, he then made an expedition against Ptolemy; and when he made
his attacks upon the place, in other points he was too hard for him, but
was rendered weaker than he, by the commiseration he had for his mother
and brethren, and by that only; for Ptolemy brought them upon the wall,
and tormented them in the sight of all, and threatened that he would throw
them down headlong, unless Hyrcanus would leave off the siege. And as he
thought that so far as he relaxed as to the siege and taking of the place,
so much favor did he show to those that were dearest to him by preventing
their misery, his zeal about it was cooled. However, his mother spread
out her hands, and begged of him that he would not grow remiss on her account,
but indulge his indignation so much the more, and that he would do his
utmost to take the place quickly, in order to get their enemy under his
power, and then to avenge upon him what he had done to those that were
dearest to himself; for that death would be to her sweet, though with torment,
if that enemy of theirs might but be brought to punishment for his wicked
dealings to them. Now when his mother said so, he resolved to take the
fortress immediately; but when he saw her beaten, and torn to pieces, his
courage failed him, and he could not but sympathize with what his mother
suffered, and was thereby overcome. And as the siege was drawn out into
length by this means, that year on which the Jews used to rest came on;
for the Jews observe this rest every seventh year, as they do every seventh
day; so that Ptolemy being for this cause released from the war, 1
he slew the brethren of Hyrcanus, and his mother; and when he had so done,
he fled to Zeno, who was called Cotylas, who was then the tyrant of the
city Philadelphia.

1 Hence we learn, that in the days of this excellent high priest, John Hyrcanus,
the observation of the Sabbatic year, as Josephus supposed, required a
rest from war, as did that of the weekly sabbath from work; I mean this,
unless in the case of necessity, when the Jews were attacked by their enemies,
in which case indeed, and in which alone, they then allowed defensive fighting
to be lawful, even on the sabbath day, as we see in several places of Josephus,
Antlq. B. XII. ch. 6. sect. 2; B. XIII. ch. 1. sect. 2; Of. the War, B.
I. ch. 7. sect. 3. But then it must be noted, that this rest from war no
way appears in the First Book of Maccabees, ch. 16., but the direct contrary;
though indeed the Jews, in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, did not venture
upon fighting on the Sabbath day, even in the defense of their own lives,
till the Asamoneans or Maccabees decreed so to do, 1 Macc. 2:32-41; Antiq.
B. XII. ch. 6. sect. 2.

Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.

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